Mac Miller Says "Blue Slide Park" Criticism Made Him Turn To Drug Use

Mac Miller says that critics were focusing more on him as a person than his music.

Mac Miller may have made history with his breakout debut Blue Slide Park, which became the first independently distributed album to bow atop the charts since 1995. But despite the success of the project, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania rapper couldn't handle the criticism of the project, making him turn to drugs.

During an interview with Complex.com for its online cover story, the Rostrum Records signee explained that the harsh reviews made him become addicted to promethazine, better known as "lean."

“I love lean; it’s great,” he said. "I was not happy and I was on lean very heavy. ... I was so fucked up all the time it was bad. My friends couldn’t even look at me the same. I was lost.”

Mac, who was on his Macadelic tour that hit many colleges, said that reviews that branded him a "frat rapper" drove him to substance abuse. He said that critics weren't focusing on his music but instead was blasting him as a person.

"A lot of the reviews were more on me as a person,” he said. “To be honest, that was even worse. You’re 19, you’re so excited to put out your first album, you put it out—and no one has any respect for you or for what you did.”

Drug abuse wasn't the only problem that plagued Miller. Last year, Lord Finesse filed a $10 million lawsuit against him for copyright infringement, later settling out of court for an undisclosed sum.

55 Comments

Anonymous

If any of y'all saw Mac in person you'd be suckin him. Blue Slide Park wasnt that good but Macadelic was good af. Quit hatin on him and live your own life. none of yall are anywhere near as succesful as him so stfu

187to313

az

WOW...just when you thought it couldnt possibly get any worse than it is, this shit comes out...a sob story about being addicted to an antihistamine... u gotta be kidding me...then he blames it on somebody else!...im sorry, but this is absolutely pathetic...what a joke

keegs

haha, do you know how many rappers use drugs to cope with criticiscm and other miscallaneous shit? get the fuck outta here. eminem? you realize he was heavy into vicadin, valium and a whole load of other shit just to deal with his stress.

beingunderfire

Although I would never say that substance abuse is the best form of exscapism, I can understand how public critism can effect young artists. Gratification, critism and expectation of albums is done so quickly that if a artist is not grounded they can fall fast. (ie charles hamilton) I may not be the biggest fan of Mac, but to realize that your going down a path at 19 that you dont want to continue traveling takes a great amount of foresite and self reflection.

Meine Ehre heisst treue

zionist

hey imac - i think 'jewrat' is pretty inflammatory. how bout u grow up and acknowledge that its sensible to equate 'jewrat' with anti semitism also, on what factual basis are ppl assuming mac miller is a zionist?

eit

Anonymous

Mac Miller's dope idk wat the fuck yall talkin about his CD sucks ass cuz of all the pop bullshit but his stuff on the mixtapes was tight, I don't wanna hear shit about suckin ass when yall dumb asses hyped up Meek Mill.

RC

You gotta have thicker skin than that if you're gonna be a rapper. You can't lock yourself in a room hiding in recluse, jerking off, sniffin coke all day cuz you can't deal with the fact somebody said your music sucks. That's some sensitive bitch shit right there, you're in the public eye you gotta be able to take both the praise & the criticism.

MV Bill

ClayDavis

I LIKED Mac as a PERSON but his MUSIC is WACK. I hate artists who can't take criticism, no we don't dislike your music because you are white, there are tons of dope white artists. You make poor corny music, and that's what we hate. Accept it, stop trying to pass off real criticism as hating.

donnis mac

damn

my point i guess im tryin to make is.. whenever u hear ppl get criticism like 50, i know i damn sure do my fair share of music criticism on that dude they dont cry about it they gear up n get move to the next try to make sumthin hot.. now regardless if 50 peddles anything hot nowadays is obv up for debate but he tries doesnt complain n tries again..

damn

ok, ok. good points everyone.. yall could of got me on this debate without all the bullshit namecallin n HS shit ya know?
but for somereason this seems like a white man problem..u wouldnt see a 50 cent or wayne or ross cryin like ahh man they didnt like my song i need drugs ..lol again this is comin from a white man
but mainly ppl in the hood does drug bec of influneces around them n ppl when they were young n grow up crackheads bec of youth party days.. u dont see ppl around here doing drugs out of self pity usually

Anonymous

People in the 'burbs turn to drugs. How many coke heads, crack heads, alcoholics, prescription painkiller abusers (cause of the new 'ron addicts) you see walking around?
It's a PEOPLE issue, not an environmental one, EVEN THOUGH, the environment can be a factor in SOME cases. PEOPLE, EVERYWHERE, are also CLEAN. STOP the FOOLISHNESS.

s

damn

my point being dumbfuck is that people in the hood hear criticism all the time and either 1) beef or 2) let it go.. but u dont see noone in the hood turning to drug use bec ppl dont like them or w.e they do.. who gives a fuck thats only shit surburban white kids with low self esteem do and say for pity

Anonymous

DrebinSlevin

Dude can rap. Face The Facts with DJ Premier is proof of that. But Blue Slide Park was an album with songs like Donald Trump. It was poppy as fuck. Mackelmore did his thing though. Made a catchy song about anti consumerism and let the rest of the album be real shit. Mac Miller can rhyme. Well too. He just needs to stop featuring hacks like Casey Veggies and Lil Wayne and make some actual music.

Anonymous

Nail on the head. The white boy who can rap was marketed to appeal to all audiences, and they were so desperate to pull off the facade they tried to rip off an old school producer, who so happened to be very knowledgeable about production paperwork.
Everlast changed his style twice. Kid Rock switched. Maybe Mac miller can.